HL Continued
by HAL HARV and Watson
Summary: Because why not? After the events at White Forest, Gordon and Alyx have to head north in search of the Borealis, but the manure has already hit the fan, and their world is changing under their feet. Because it's all just a game of Risk and Consequence. (And of course spoilers for the whole series)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I'm trying to address what Episode 2 left on the table, particularly the G-Man's connection to Alyx and the Vortigaunts weaving Gordon's life with hers, because I think that not addressing it is not a good option. This should be an interesting ride.**

_**I would really love your input on this, especially in these first few chapters. (I may or may not know what I'm doing...) **_

* * *

_What have I done?_

Gordon lay on the hard ground, fighting to remain conscious. He couldn't really feel most of his body, and all he could see was Alyx crying over Eli's dead body. He felt rage start to boil in the pit of his stomach, and he grabbed onto it, using it as a source of strength. He managed to roll over and drag himself forward, straining to reach out and touch her. She wasn't alone; he felt the heavy loss and the swirling emotions that came with it, too, and he had to let her know.

He was too far away, and he knew his energy was down to its last. He probably had just enough to roll back over and pass out, but he used the last dregs to drag himself another precious few inches. As the darkness accelerated toward him, he flung out his arm as far as he possibly could… and came up short.

He had absolutely nothing left, and the darkness took him as he collapsed to the ground.

* * *

When he came to, he was outside in the forest in some kind of makeshift camp, and it was completely dark. A Vortigaunt looked at him and walked around the campfire.

"The Freeman awakes," it said. He pushed himself up and rubbed his face, hoping his head would stop spinning. The last battle and what had come after had taken a lot out of him.

"How you feeling?" Kleiner asked from the other side of the fire. Gordon shrugged. Physically, he felt okay, but emotionally was another story entirely.

There was a sound from the surrounding darkness, a high pitched vocalization that slid up to an even higher pitch. It repeated twice, and Gordon tensed, just in case that was another other-worldly monster.

"That's Barney," Kleiner assured him. "He took out a scouting party. That's the all-clear."

Gordon looked curiously at him.

"We lost control of White Forest," Kleiner sighed. "The Advisors were just the beginning. The Combine raided the base; we were lucky to get so many people out. At least Barney was still able to find us."

Gordon took a good look at his old advisor and friend. Kleiner looked worn and beaten. He had depended on Eli as the world they knew was torn apart and replaced with something more dangerous and more costly. Eli was Kleiner's best friend, and Kleiner was Eli's best friend. He was Alyx's 'Uncle Kleiner' for a reason.

Barney seemed to materialize from the darkness, and he nodded at Gordon as he sat down next to Kleiner. Gordon could see the loss on Barney too.

He closed his eyes and focused on the red-hot glowing pit seething in his stomach. Barney and Kleiner were friends and colleagues, and seeing how it had affected them only increased his rage.

When he opened his eyes again, Barney caught his eye, and he could suddenly see the wrathful emotions under Barney's skin. They nodded at each other, wordlessly understanding each other.

He stood and turned to walk from the fire.

"Alyx went to take a walk," Barney told him. He nodded once. He knew exactly where she was.

He walked into the darkness, moving easily through it as he traced out a path almost automatically. She was standing on the ridge, staring out into the night. How he knew he didn't know, and at the moment, he didn't care.

As his eyes began to adapt to the darkness, he saw her on the ridge thirty feet from him, turned to face him. He stopped, leaving the space between them as a neutral zone. He held out his hand and waited, watching to see what she would do. For a long moment, she stared at him, not moving. Then she ran forward and nearly tackled him as she wrapped her arms around him, sobbing uncontrollably. He held her and let her pour it all out. He guided her into sitting beside him on the ground, and he was ready when she hit him, over and over again in need to lash out for this unequaled injury. He waited until she had exhausted the little that remained of her energy, and then he caught her eye. She looked into his eyes and saw he wanted revenge just as much as she did. He intended to hunt down the Combine and exact a deadly toll for this; he intended to use any weapon available to him to make them bleed out for what they had done.

That comforted her, and she relaxed, leaning against him. And together, they grieved in the darkness.

* * *

They stood at the base of the ridge in the morning fog, watching as the Vortiguants carried the box symbolizing Eli's body to the grave Alyx, Gordon, and Barney had dug in the hard rocky ground in the pre-dawn darkness. The weak dawn sunlight fought its way through the fog as the entire camp stood to pay tribute to the man who had given his life to the resistance and mankind's uncertain future.

The Vortigaunts gently lay 'Eli' on the ground beside the grave. They had lost his real body at White Forest, so the Vortigaunts had built a wooden casket as a substitute for the service.

"If anyone would like to say a few words," one of the Vortigaunts suggested, turning to face the crowd. "Perhaps the Kleiner."

Dr. Kleiner moved to stand next to the body, facing the others. He was crying, but he took a breath and forced himself to speak. "Eli was a good friend. He and I worked together for so long I can't remember when I met him. To see him like this is…" his voice broke, and he took some time to collect himself again. He looked down at the casket. "Eli, I can't thank you enough for everything you have done for me over these long years. You've saved my life so many times, and you've always been there as the best of friends." He looked down at his shoes, and Barney walked up and guided him to a seat on a rock by Gordon and Alyx when it became clear he was done.

After a long moment, the Vortigaunt said to Barney, "Perhaps you?"

"Sure." Barney moved to stand where Kleiner had. "After Black Mesa, all I had was Dr. Kleiner and Eli. They changed my life. They encouraged me to become a CP spy, and they gave me the courage to go through with it." He laughed humorlessly. "A long time ago I dedicated my life to protecting men of intellect, especially him and Kleiner. I just can't believe I couldn't protect him."

He lowered his head and moved to stand beside Kleiner. The Vortigaunt waited for a volunteer, and finding none, he said, "Would the Alyx Vance like to speak?" Alyx turned and wrapped an arm tightly around Gordon's waist, shaking her head and burying her face into his shirt. Gordon had taken off the HEV out of respect. The Vortiguant looked at Gordon, who shook his head.

"Anyone else?" the Vortigaunt asked. No one volunteered, and after a long minute, he turned back to the casket. He and the other Vortigaunts lowered 'Eli' into the grave and began pushing the dirt back in. One of the Vortiguants turned to where Gordon and Alyx stood off to the side.

"Alyx," he said. She looked up at him with teary eyes, and he offered her a folded Resistance flag, a Combine flag spray-painted with the orange lambda of the Resistance. She took it from him and bent her head, closing her eyes.

"The Combine shall pay for this rent," the Vortigaunt whispered to her. "With this act, they have lost their lease on life."

She looked up at him, knowing he meant every word.

"What about what they learned?" she asked in a broken voice. The Advisors had licked his skull clean, taking out every last piece of information. The Combine knew everything now.

"That is of great consequence, yes, but it is not insurmountable." The Vortigaunt picked up a dead blow hammer and offered it to her for her to pound in the cross at the head of the grave.

"You do it, Gordon," she whispered. He took the hammer and stood at the head of the grave. He stabilized the cross bearing Eli's name in the soil, and then he used a series of powerful blows to drive it deep into the ground. Alyx came up beside him, wrapping her arm around his, looking down at the pile of dirt and rock now housing her father, her only living family.

She took a deep breath and looked up at Gordon. "We'll get through this," she whispered. "We'll get through this, and we'll give them hell."

He nodded and smiled faintly. He saw a spark light behind her eyes, and it caught on something, lighting her eyes with a bright flame of vengeance and determination. He was scared that this loss would take away her compassion and basic humanity, but he also somehow knew it wouldn't. This might force cracks into her psyche, but it wouldn't destroy her. She was going to use this fire to re-forge herself into something stronger and more deadly, but she would always be herself.

That comforted him, and he knew she was going to be alright.

"And it's not your fault," she whispered, knowing his subconscious thoughts. "Don't for one second think that it's your fault. Someone else put that crystal in the chamber. You were a tool for most of the people of Black Mesa. You couldn't possibly know what it would do."

He looked away, but she turned his chin to meet his eyes.

"That guilt drives you. Fine. But do you really think Dad would be okay with me dating the guy who burned the world? He thought he did it. There wasn't a day when he didn't think about what he thought he had done. That's why he buried himself in his work, and that's why he did so much for the Resistance. And don't even get me started about what Kleiner thinks!"

He looked away. That wasn't the point.

"Is that not the point? Is that what you're trying to say? Look at Dad's grave and say it again," she dared. "You tell your supervisor that you should have known better when your administrator wouldn't give you the time of day. The Incident was the result of a series of natural actions everyone took. I think it's Breen's fault. He gave you the sample and nothing else, and then he let you, Dad, and Kleiner take the fall. He's spent the last twenty years covering his ass, and he would have managed it, too, if the Vortigaunts hadn't told their stories about Xen."

Something shifted behind his eyes, and she smiled. She knew just as well as anyone else that it would take years for him to heal and forgive himself for what he thought he had done, but that process was finally starting. After so long, he was finally starting to heal. That comforted her, and she knew he was going to be alright.

She wrapped her arms around him, and together they stood in the cold dawn, tears streaming down their faces, as they tried to find a way to balance.

* * *

Gordon sat out in the night, looking blankly at the horizon. He had sat up with Alyx, and when she had finally fallen asleep, he had slipped away. He needed some time to think. In City 17 he had found he had built up walls between himself and others, walls that provided two-way protection. The trauma of Black Mesa had cracked him, and he couldn't afford to let anyone in, lest they just make it worse. The only one who had just gotten that was Barney, who hadn't pushed and hadn't asked anything of him.

At first, Alyx hadn't factored into anything. Sure, she had saved him and helped him, but she was just an outsider, a stranger who couldn't understand. But when he had fought beside her, he had been surprised to see they had flawless combat chemistry. He had managed to convince himself that he could keep his distance and still have her as a fellow combatant.

But then she had begged him to come back when he had entered the Citadel reactor, and then she had dug him out of the rubble. She had actually hugged him, and that had meant, surprisingly, a lot to him. With a look and a touch, she had cracked his walls. When they had escaped City 17, she had shown him her weaknesses, trusting him with her vulnerabilities. Was she justified in doing that? Could she really let such a broken man so far down? She had decided she could, and he had been convinced that she shouldn't have.

When the Hunter attacked her, at first he thought that it was his guilt that had driven him to save her at any cost, but it had been something else, something deeper down and something more primal. Because she had brought down one of his walls, and because his subconscious knew he couldn't heal on his own, and because to him she represented something that he couldn't allow the Combine to corrupt. He knew that the resonance cascade had taken much of his basic humanity, and she had come in to serve as a surrogate replacement.

But it was also more complicated than that. The depth and breadth of his loneliness had come into focus at last, and she provided companionship. But that chasm existed for a reason. He still wasn't sure what to think about that.

He didn't know if he could afford to let her in, to show her his own vulnerabilities, to trust her with his broken self.

He sensed her come up, and she sat beside him, hugging her knees against the cold. For a long time she didn't say anything, just feeling his presence as she looked up at the stars. She was still grieving, but it was less immediate now, and right now she was more concerned about the complex man beside her. She knew he had tried to shield himself from others and he had tried to keep her at a distance. But she was pretty sure she had started to slip behind one of his barriers. But he had to let her in. He had to trust her enough to let her see his weaknesses.

She leaned against him. He looked down at her, surprised. But she didn't say anything, feeling the complicated world around them and how they fit into it.

He held his breath, looking down at her, seeing her absolutely flawed perfection for the first time. Some part of him responded to it with a nervous energy, but the rest of him drowned it out with fear. He couldn't let her in. He couldn't.

But he wanted to. He wanted, needed, to.

_But you can't._

_But you know you can't do this any more._

_You can't get hurt. And do you want to hurt her?_

But something whispered that he couldn't hurt her with who he was. She had already seen so much that this was nothing. She was vulnerable, and this might hit her in chinks in her armor, but that was just one more scar among hundreds.

And he just couldn't keep the walls up any more.

He pulled her closer to him, burying his face into her shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. She wrapped her arms around him, whispering soothing words into his ear. She smiled as her own tears started.

He had let her in.


	2. Chapter 2

When the next morning came, they woke up side by side on the hard ground outside the camp, and they stood to go back. Barney looked up as they walked in, and he wordlessly offered them a ration pack. Alyx took it gratefully from him and opened it. She offered half of it to Gordon, who took it.

"What's your plan now?" Barney asked as they ate.

"We have to find the Borealis," Alyx said softly. "We have to know what the hell is on that boat."

Barney nodded. "The helicopter's dead, but there's probably another form of transportation around here that'll get you there."

She nodded.

Someone ran up. "Hey, we're getting a weird transmission on the radio. Some lunatic babbling about the Borealis."

Gordon and Alyx looked at each other as they got up to follow him. He led them to the radio tent where two operators were standing around the small set-up. When they saw Gordon and Alyx, the woman picked up the handset.

"Can you repeat that, over?" she asked into it.

_"Don't know how many times you want me to say it. Leave the Borealis alone! You don't know what's really there! Not even She knows!"_

The signal was bad and full of static, but they could still make out every word he said.

Alyx took the handset. "Who's this 'She'?" she asked into it.

_"The demon of Aperture Science. She knows everything, but the Borealis has been hidden from her. There's something unholy there, something bad enough they wouldn't let an isolated AI know about it."_

"How do you know about it?" Alyx countered.

_"I found the external drive about it. But I wasn't the first. I know you're looking for that ship. Don't go there, and even if you do, for God's sake don't crack open the hull. Hang on."_ The man disconnected for a moment, and then he came back. _"Actually, you _should_ go there, but you need to destroy it."_

"What's there?" Alyx demanded.

_"Something that can tear this universe apart."_

"Is that even possible?"

_"You don't know what Aperture was doing twenty years ago, and you don't know what Aperture has had on its side for a long time. GLaDOS and the testing program were just the tip of the iceberg. The Borealis represents the worst of the worst of Aperture. No; more than that. The worst of humanity."_

"Can we even destroy something like that?" Alyx asked, looking over at Gordon, who shrugged.

_"I don't know. But you have to try."_

"What's your name?"

The man laughed and took a long time in answering. Eventually, he said, _"I'm the Rat Man."_

"Do you have a real name?"

_"I don't know if I do anymore,"_ he sighed. _"Doesn't matter. All that matters is that the Borealis and its cargo don't see the light of day."_

He disconnected.

Alyx and Gordon looked at each other. "It sounds like he's been with Aperture this whole time," she said. He nodded. "He knows a lot more than anyone else. I think we need to find him."

"How do you intend to do that?" the radio operator asked.

"I don't know," Alyx admitted. "But this thing can't have much range. Maybe he's around here somewhere. And maybe Dr. Kleiner knows where the Aperture complex is. If it's around here, that might be where our friend is."

Gordon nodded, and he led her back to the fire pit. Kleiner was staring into space. Gordon waved at him, and he looked up.

"Oh, Gordon, Alyx, yes?"

"Doc, we were wondering if you know where the Aperture complex is," Alyx said.

Kleiner cast his memory back. "I think I remember someone mentioning that Aperture was based out of an old salt mine on the Michigan peninsula."

"That's where we are now," Alyx said. "Are there any mines around here, apart from the one taken over by antlions?"

"I think there's a big one north of here, but that's at least two days away on foot."

Alyx looked at Gordon. "There's no way he's that far away," she said, and he nodded.

"Are there any others?" she asked Kleiner, who shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, my dear."

"Someone has to know," Alyx said. "Maybe Barney. He's been crawling all over this place." Gordon nodded.

"I've been doing what now?" Barney asked, walking up.

"Do you know of any mines around here?" Alyx asked. He considered it.

"Not that I can think of. But that might not be the best way to look for our friend." He looked over at Kleiner. "Doc, doesn't Aperture have dozens of smaller facilities scattered around?"

Kleiner nodded. "They do. I don't know where you might be able to find one around here though…"

Alyx looked at Gordon. "What do you say, Gordon? Do you want to start looking?"

He nodded.

"Let me help get you started," Barney volunteered. "My scouting party might have found something last night that could help you guys out." He led them outside the camp, explaining, "We squirreled it away out here in case someone needed to use it." He led them to the ridge and then down below to a small clearing sheltered by trees and rocks. Alyx saw it first and laughed.

"You're kidding! How did you—"

"Gordon left it outside before the launch," Barney explained with a smile.

She ran up to the car they had driven to White Forest. It was still in one piece, and she bet it was still functioning. "Let's get this out of here." She enlisted Gordon's help, and they cleared a path wide enough to drive through.

"You guys should collect some supplies from the camp before you go," Barney said. "And I would talk to the radio operator. He might have been using a unique frequency."

They nodded. Barney sighed and shook his head. "And before you go, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything," Alyx replied. Barney had done so much for her and her father through the years.

"Stay one more night. I think everyone would benefit from it, especially Kleiner."

Alyx nodded. "Of course. You're right." Gordon figured more rest would do them both good, and he nodded. They turned to walk back to the camp, and Alyx moved to stay beside Gordon. Barney raised an eyebrow incrementally but didn't comment and turned away.

When they got back to camp, Barney walked into one of the tents and came back with soap. "Gordon, I was thinking about going down to the river to wash off. Want to come?"

He hesitated. On one hand, the idea of getting out of the HEV and washing off the sweat and grime was very attractive. On the other, he wasn't sure if he should leave the camp for so long.

"Go on," Alyx told him. "You'll thank me later." He wanted to protest, but she stared at him, and he sighed.

"Just be careful," she told him. He nodded, and as he and Barney moved to go, she suddenly ran up and pressed her pistol into his hand. "Just in case. Don't you lose that, alright?"

He nodded and slipped it into one of the HEV thigh holsters. She hugged him and watched him walk out of the camp.

* * *

Barney led Gordon to a quiet, sheltered bend in the nearby river, and as they stripped down, Gordon caught sight of something on Barney's bare back. Four metal spots were inlaid with his skin, two just below the shoulder blades and two right above the hips. There were similar spots just above his elbows. Barney caught him looking, and he smiled faintly.

"Most people think Civil Protection don't get body mods. That's not true. They graft metal to the back of the spine, rib cage, femur, and humerus, and they run cable along all of it. It's not as extensive as what Overwatch gets, not even close, which is why no one thinks it really happens."

Gordon raised an eyebrow and looked questioningly at him.

"I never told Kleiner or Eli. As far as they know, when I enlisted as a CP, my 12 hours at the Citadel was a compressed boot camp. Not quite." He rolled his shoulders back. "It's actually done a lot for me. It increases strength and stamina, and when you combine with the CP dispersal armor, it can become significantly more difficult to take down a CP. You don't seem to have any trouble, though."

Gordon shrugged. He supposed he had an augmentation system as well, the HEV. Some of the HEV's functions could be invasive, and training with it had turned him into something much more powerful. When you thought 'physicist,' you didn't think of a weapons expert able to free-carry his own weight. That sounded more like an Army Ranger or Jason Bourne.

"Here." Barney tossed Gordon the bar of soap. "You first."

In an hour or so, they were sitting on the bank in the sun in freshly-washed clothes, watching the water burble by. Gordon found himself paying close attention to the world around him, listening for anything out of place, watching for any wrong movement. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell Barney was doing the same thing.

"Right here, one could almost forget about all of it," Barney said quietly. "Black Mesa, the Combine, White Forest, all of it. Almost."

Gordon closed his eyes. The words 'Black Mesa' brought with them pangs of guilt, especially now. If he hadn't done what he had done in the test chamber that day, none of this would have happened. The past few days had been a blur of danger and adrenaline, but now he had time to reflect. Now he had seen the damage he had wrought close up, had felt the effects of it himself, and had even married a woman whose life was severely marked because of what he had done. There was far more than Vortigaunt blood on his hands from Black Mesa, and it would take him an eternity to cleanse himself of it.

"You should have seen her face when we said she wouldn't find you in the rubble," Barney said, referring to Gordon's miraculous survival of the initial reactor explosion at the Citadel. He laughed shortly. "She wasn't ever going to give up. Not until she found you or your body under that concrete. She just refused to believe she wouldn't find anything. And I don't think anyone's ever seen her any happier than when she sees you come back safe and sound."

Gordon looked at him, wondering just where this was going.

Barney sighed and leaned forward. "The Vortigaunts say you saved her from a Hunter, that you 'retrieved her Vortessence'. That's a pretty big deal, and as her godfather, thank you."

Gordon nodded. He hadn't hesitated when the Vortigaunts had asked him to save her. He knew there were strings attached, and just what they all were he didn't know yet, but he was willing to live with them to have her at his side.

He suddenly sensed something, and he jumped up.

"What's wrong?" Barney asked, getting to his feet. Gordon just wriggled back into the HEV and ran back toward the camp. Barney chased after him, shouting for him to slow down, but he couldn't afford it. Something was wrong.

He accelerated into the camp, and one of the refugees looked up in surprise. "If you're looking for Alyx, I think she's in there," she said, pointing to one of the tents. He got there right as a doctor and Kleiner did.

"Gordon?" Alyx called, and Gordon went in. He found her pushing herself up off the ground, and he stepped forward and offered her his hand. She took it and let him help her to her feet.

"What happened?" the doctor asked her.

"I… don't know," she said. "I just felt dizzy, and then I was on the ground." She hadn't let go of Gordon's hand, needing that connection.

Barney raised an eyebrow and looked at Gordon. Something wasn't quite adding up here. Gordon had never shown any inclination toward psychic abilities, but he had certainly suggested he had them just now. And if he didn't know better, he'd say Alyx was doing the same thing.

Actually, they were acting a bit like Vortigaunts, with the strange sixth-sense thing. Just how had Gordon saved her? Barney knew there was way more to it than the little the Vortigaunts told them, but what that meant he wasn't sure. Barney guessed one of the Vortigaunt rituals had been involved, which would probably explain these… side-effects.

Gordon brushed Alyx's hair from her face and looked worriedly at her. She laughed and looked up at him. "I'm alright, Gordon. I promise."

"I'd still like to look over you," the doctor said.

"Of course." Alyx looked at Gordon. "Go talk to the radio operator. We're going to need all the information we can get."

He shook his head. He had no intension of leaving her just after something like that.

"Will you at least wait outside?" she asked. "It'll be like fifteen minutes."

"Indeed," the doctor added. When he didn't move, the doctor smiled. "I'll be with her. Don't worry." Very reluctantly, Gordon let go of Alyx's hand and went outside with Kleiner and Barney.

"Oh, dear," Kleiner fretted. "I hope something isn't terribly wrong."

"She'll be fine," Barney assured him. He looked over at Gordon, but Gordon was down in the depths of his own mind. How had he known Alyx needed help? And how had he known exactly where she was? He didn't think he was psychic.

The Vortigaunts said their lives were woven together, whatever that meant. He knew—somehow—that they now shared a collective life-force, and he was still trying to figure out just what he thought about the implications that suggested.

"Hey, man, what's going on with you?" Barney asked Gordon. He knew there was more to it than their developing relationship and budding romance. Gordon shrugged and shook his head. He had an idea, but he still didn't entirely know. He needed to talk to the Vortigaunts about the ritual, but now he wanted to be back in that tent with Alyx.

The doctor came out with Alyx. "She's perfectly alright. Don't worry. I would, however, suggest taking it easy for the next few days."

Gordon nodded. Alyx looked at him and smiled. She walked up to him and looked up into his eyes. "Let's go talk to the radio operator," she said. He nodded and let her lead the way. They walked to the radio tent, and the operator looked up as they entered.

"Do you know what frequency our friend was using earlier?" Alyx asked her. She nodded.

"Our Borealis friend? Yeah." She wrote the frequency on a scrap of paper. "If you've got a radar unit, you can follow that. That should take you right to him if he's got his transmitter on. It might help to know that we think the signal was coming from the south-east."

Alyx thanked her, and they walked back toward the fire. Gordon spotted a group of Vortigaunt, and he tugged Alyx's sleeve, tilting his head toward them.

"What's up?" she asked. He just motioned with his head again, and she relented. "Alright."

The Vortigaunts looked up as they approached. "The Freeman wishes to know about the Ritual," one of them said. He nodded.

"What ritual?" Alyx asked. The Vortigaunts hadn't told her just what they had done to save her. They had told her very little about it.

"The ritual used to save the life of the Alyx Vance," one of the Vortigaunts replied. She blinked.

"Gordon, why didn't you tell me?" she asked. He shook his head.

"The Freeman did not wish you to worry," the first Vortigant told her. "And it was the only way to save you."

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Our kin healed many of your physical injuries, but your life-force was weak. So our kin used the Ritual to weave it with the Freeman's."

"What?" It affected her almost like a physical blow, and she looked up at Gordon. "You went through that? Just for me?" He nodded, and she hugged him fiercely. "Thank you," she whispered, putting worlds of meaning into those simple words. She turned back to the Vortigaunt. "So what's the catch? Are Gordon and I married now?"

"If that is how you wish to think of it," he replied. "As a result of the Ritual, you two have begun to develop a deep psychic bond. It may take weeks to fully blossom, but even now you two are fundamentally connected."

Alyx laughed and looked up at Gordon. "You could have told me, you know! Then we would have been able to tell Dad!" He shrugged, and she laughed again, shaking her head. "Alyx Freeman. Has a nice ring to it. I do have to admit that wasn't exactly how I imagined my wedding, with me passed out, and you putting yourself through something like that."

He looked meaningfully into her eyes, silently asking if she was truly alright with this revelation. He was, after all, a monster.

"Stop looking at me like that, Gordon. The idea of being Mrs. Freeman isn't that scary. It sounds like a lot of fun. So yes, I will marry you. Don't you dare bring up consent." She took his hand and kissed him. "Dad would have been so happy. He was serious about wanting grandkids," she said sadly. Her voice caught, but she pushed the emotions away. "Now what do you say we see if we can find the Rat Man?"


End file.
